Overview
- Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi issued notices to the Union, PNB, Bank of Maharashtra and Asian Hotels (North) and set the next hearing for March 18.
- The court asked why the five-star property was not auctioned in 2025 as real estate prices rose, signaling concern over timing and transparency of the settlement.
- The petitioner NGO, represented by Advocate Prashant Bhushan, cites a drop in the hotel’s assessed value from roughly Rs 2,600–2,651 crore in 2020 to about Rs 970 crore in 2024 and alleges breach of RBI’s auction requirement for loans over Rs 100 crore.
- Counsel for the banks said auctions were attempted twice without bidders and that recoveries total about 116% of the loan, stressing that the matter reflects commercial judgment on a concluded transaction.
- The Supreme Court sought auction records and will review the Delhi High Court’s earlier refusal to interfere, which held that OTS decisions typically lie within banks’ commercial wisdom absent clear illegality.